Hunt for body after man charged with murder of missing schoolboy Daniel Morcombe

POLICE will scour rugged Sunshine Coast bushland for the remains of missing teenager Daniel Morcombe after a former truck driver was charged with his murder yesterday.

The surprise arrest of the 41-year-old man after eight harrowing years for the Morcombe family came after police lured him back to Queensland from Perth under a covert and complex strategy.

He was arrested at 4pm and charged three hours later with murder, deprivation of liberty, child stealing, indecent treatment of a child under 16 and interfering with a corpse.

At his home on the Sunshine Coast last night, an emotional Bruce Morcombe spoke of the moment he learnt police had charged a man with murdering his son.

Mr Morcombe told how despite the days dragging into months and almost eight years with no arrests, he and wife Denise never gave up hope of a breakthrough in the search for Daniel, who was only 13 when he vanished while waiting for a bus at a Woombye overpass in 2003.

"We always had the resolve," he said. "We have never once given up. We knew this day would come."

Mr Morcombe said senior police officers had been in constant communication with the family throughout yesterday about developments in the case.

He said that just after 5pm, he received a call from Commissioner Bob Atkinson and, almost simultaneously, Assistant Commissioner Mick Condon arrived at the door of his Palmwoods home.

"The Commissioner told me police were about to charge someone in relation to Daniel's abduction," he said.

Mr Morcombe said it brought mixed emotions and a "reality check" with fresh thoughts about what had happened to their boy.

"It's very difficult ... Denise is crushed by it all," he said. "We don't really know what to say. We're not in the right frame of mind. We need to gather our thoughts."

Mr Morcombe said there was no guilty verdict yet and "plenty of work ahead".

He said the family's position had always been "step one: find Daniel; step two: find who's responsible".

"An area has been identified and is being searched and this is our drive, to find Daniel."

Mrs Morcombe wept as she told of how difficult this task would be.

"During the floods, this spot had 10m of water through it," she said.

Mr Morcombe said they had been told specialist excavation equipment would be brought in today.

He spoke of how vital the coronial inquest into Daniel's disappearance had been and how, without the resurgence of interest and fresh leads generated, the investigation could have been a cold case.

"The coronial process in layman's terms is a review process and (State Coroner Michael Barnes) saw something we didn't see. There's no doubt police have done an enormous amount of work but the inquest was crucial," Mr Morcombe said.

The inquest has now been suspended. Brisbane Magistrates Court will be under tight security tomorrow when the man, who was a person of interest at the inquest, will answer the charges.

The man - who cannot be named - was subpoenaed to provide further evidence to the inquiry later this year but it is understood police did not want to wait and used a covert strategy to lure him into their hands.

Commissioner Atkinson, who signalled he wanted the case solved before he retired, praised the work of detectives last night.

"Despite this breakthrough today, a significant amount of work remains to be done. That includes the search of an area of bushland on the Sunshine Coast," he said.